Lori Devaney, Shelly Farrar, And Christa Skinnell on Women in Business

Intro: [00:00:07] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Woodstock, Georgia. Welcome to Women in Business, where we celebrate influential women making a difference in our community. Now here’s your host.

Lori Kennedy: [00:00:29] Hello. This is Lori Kennedy and I’m your host today for Women in Business Powered by Business RadioX Stone Payton. Our producer is also in the studio with us today and we’re grateful to have you tuned in with us today. We have three amazing ladies. We are going to be interviewing Laurie Devaney from the innovation spot, Shelly Farrar from Riverstone Corner Bistro, and Jay Michaels, Prime Steak and Seafood. Yum! And then we also have Chris Deschanel from 1988 events. And I am going to start with tell me about your business name, what you do and how long you’ve been in business. And I’m going to start with you, Krista.

Christa Skinnell: [00:01:15] Well, I am Christa Skinnell with Nine88 events. I came up with the name. It’s basically the month and year I met my husband. We were 16 years old in September of 1988, and it’s just been a journey ever since. So that’s where we came up with the name about a year ago. So our company launched last May, so I’m super excited that we’ve hit that one year mark. We do corporate events and private parties. Congratulations.

Lori Kennedy: [00:01:47] Thank you. That is awesome. All right, Laurie, let me ask you, tell us about what you do and how long you’ve been doing it.

Lori Devaney: [00:01:54] My name is Lori Devaney and I am with the innovation spot we opened about a year and a half ago, just shortly after COVID started releasing. Here we are a coworking space and we have any conference rooms, private offices, hot desks, anything that you need for to go ahead and run your own business. How did we come up with the name? So the innovation spot, I think that, you know, I love creating and working with different businesses and we have a lot of different businesses in this coworking space. And I think every business has the potential to be very innovative and there’s a lot of innovation that comes out of this little spot.

Lori Kennedy: [00:02:36] Well, how did you come up with the idea? Because I feel like co-working spaces are relatively. Post COVID. You know.

Lori Devaney: [00:02:44] Actually, that is kind of a not not the case. And I would love to take credit for this, but it’s not my brainchild. I would actually have to say my husband, Tom Devaney, is the one that really had the idea to open this here in Woodstock. But he is he’s a professor over at KSU and the executive MBA program, and they do an international residency where they travel to different countries every year with the with the classes. And they’ve been doing a lot of travel in South America. And this is how people work in South America in particular. It’s a cost effective way for businesses to have everything they need in an office. You know, a lot of times the overhead for a conference room or a break room or, you know, all the other spaces that you need in an office can you know, it’s not always necessary, only if you use them once a month or something like that. So it makes sense to share that space, thus have a co-working space. But co-working has been a thing in other countries and here in the United States, to a lesser degree, for a good number of years.

Lori Kennedy: [00:03:57] Okay. Awesome. Well, Shelley, tell us about your businesses and how long they’ve been around and what the story is for, how they were started.

Shelly Farrar: [00:04:05] Oh, goodness. Well, my husband and I have been in the restaurant world for like over 30 years, and we never thought our kids would want to follow in our footsteps. And one day we’re on a trip to Florida. And my 19 year old son at the time says, Mom, dad, he’s like, can you help me? I want to open up a restaurant. And I was working in the corporate world. My husband worked for P.F. Chang’s, and we’re like listening to him. He had his own little business plan, and he was like, we’re like, Well, what do you mean? And he’s like, Mom, I want you to leave your corporate job and come help me. And Dad was a breadwinner, so, yeah. So I was like, okay, I can, you know, which, you know, we’ve always supported entrepreneurship, things like that. We’ve always wanted to open our own restaurant. And here we have a son who’s 19 pushing the envelope way before we we did so. Long story short, he I was a realtor as well. And I said, Well, that’s fine. You have to find the place. You have to put half down. And you know, when you do that, I will give my notice and we’ll go from there. And he found a place within two weeks negotiated with the money that he had to give 50% down. And yeah, we closed on April Fool’s Day, which is kind of funny. And we opened a deli in town like called Corner Bistro. And there we took it over from an existing business and it wasn’t doing so well. And I will never forget it. This lovely lady was sitting at her phone. She was probably in her eighties and on the table and I hear a go, you guys have to come here. They’re very nice and the food is really good. And since then, I’ve learned that word of mouth is definitely the best form of advertising.

Lori Kennedy: [00:05:54] Oh, wow. Yeah.

Shelly Farrar: [00:05:55] So, yeah. So then, you know, fast forward, we had that for five, six years and we went to look at another location near where we were doing a lot of catering and that was where we are now. But it was too big to be a deli. And we’re like, okay. And I don’t know, God gave me a vision that, you know, I was like, okay, well, we talked about other concepts and we did that. So our lunch menu is the deli pretty much. And then the dinner menu is our Southern Comfort concept that we pretty much created in like two weeks and opened the doors there. And we’d been, we were there like ten years and then we drive by. We used to go to Winchester’s all the time, which is where Jay Michaels Prime is. Yes. And back in the day, it was my husband and his favorite date night. And I would always drive by that building. And even though you can’t see it, because down a hill we loved the building and it was closer to our home. And one day we’re driving. And I was like, I feel like God wants us to have this building. And it was on the market and we made an offer. They declined. And the next year came by. And, you know, then my husband’s like, you know, I think God wants us how this building. And he’s like, I don’t know why it’s down a hill. It’s like, you can’t see it. It’s like, you know, I think we’re crazy, but, you know, let’s put another offer in. So we did another offer. He gets declined, another year goes by and they contact us going, Hey, we’ll take your final offer, you know, if you’re so interested.

Shelly Farrar: [00:07:25] And within that same time frame, the lender Community Bank of Georgia, which are wonderful people and they’ve helped us now and we didn’t know them then. We referred to them by Bojangles Crystal Beaver, who had Bojangles and, you know, she got loans from them, so. They called us and said, hey, we want to give you money. And they’re like, you know, because we talked about for and applied. And so long story short, we were able to get that and we closed on it. And that’s been four years or ten years at RCP. And then it happened. We were building a new building, bought our own property, kind of put that on hold, waiting to see where, where God was going to go with the world and what was going to happen. But we ended up the numbers are okay. The banks like no, you guys are good god. We ended up closing out the year on a positive note somehow during COVID. Right. And so, yeah. So now we just moved there January 13th. And when we went to move, we hadn’t had COVID. My husband got COVID, my son got COVID. Oh no. And my brother no, uncle got COVID. Wow. So just a couple of us had to open move the whole building and get over there. And yeah, I told my husband he owed me big after that was over. Right. But anyhow, he does a lot behind the scenes even when he’s sick. So that’s our story. It was like we’re here and we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the community. And. And that’s really where we’re forever grateful.

Lori Kennedy: [00:08:54] Yeah, for sure. Laurie, tell me how you use your influence in the community.

Lori Devaney: [00:09:01] Well, I think one of the things I mean, first off, I want to say community is so important. I mean, especially, you know, I think many of us live in this great community of Woodstock. And, you know, when you live in a place and you work in a place, you just you want it to be better. And so, you know, we try to do a number of things here with the space that we have. And, you know, obviously we want to make a profit, but I think more importantly is being involved with that community. So we do different events. We’re we’re pretty tied in with most ministries. We do a lot of different things for them. As a matter of fact, we’ve got a food drive going for them, I think is just wrapping up here as we speak. And then like last year, we did an event called Axes of Kindness where we had an event and we did ax throwing, which I know that sounds kind of weird, but it was a great event. It had a lot of fun and all the proceeds from that event or, you know, given to most ministries there. And we also, you know, like every couple of weeks, we have a company or a nonprofit called Connections, which hosts their every two week podcast out of our conference room here. And they want to bring divine intervention to the workplace. So it’s a, you know, just a nice refreshing hour that, you know, if you want to have some time out, take a breath, talk with other business community members and, you know, just kind of refresh midweek on a Wednesday for for that next week, you know, for the rest of the week there. But we try to, you know, make our space available to the community in certain ways as well.

Lori Kennedy: [00:10:45] So aren’t you guys getting ready to expand this location? We’re like in the innovation spot right now. Like, that’s where we do this every month. And Stone does it more often than I do, but I jump in once a month and do the women in business and and it is so much fun. But yeah, we’re in your space now and aren’t you getting ready to expand and do more?

Lori Devaney: [00:11:06] We already expanded, so we have an additional 10,000 square feet in the building behind us that we opened up about a week ago. Opening day consisted of an event with sure connections, and we had Congressman Loudermilk out for that event. Mayor Caldwell was here as well, and we just had a fantastic opening event there in that new space. And then something else that’s exciting, which is just kind of in the works here for the last couple of days, is we are opening up an event hall, so we are going to have space in another building here within the park where we can house anywhere from about, I’d say 80 people or so and and an event hall here. So there’ll be an event center available for folks too. And we’re hoping and this is where I always learn my lessons as I give a timeline. And I found with COVID and supply chain issues and everything, you don’t always get those timelines met. But I’m hoping within a couple of weeks we’ll be able to open that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:12:14] Okay, awesome. That is great. Krista, how do you use your influence in the community?

Christa Skinnell: [00:12:21] I wouldn’t be where I am right now without the community in Woodstock. I mean, it has been such a wonderful support. I jumped right in to networking after starting my business, having no idea what to do. You know, I just was going to do it and. Started meeting fantastic people. And it just the camaraderie, the rallying, the the referrals. It’s just been such a wonderful experience. So I am so thankful for the city of Woodstock. I try to give back and a lot of different ways we I will do. I work with Encompass ministry. We’ve done work with every link matters, which is a local charity too for a special little girl. And because I still have kids in school, we are a River Ridge High School and Mill Creek Middle School. I support the PTA. I was actually on the PTA board for a couple of years, just loving on the teachers and the staff. We’ve got fabulous, fabulous schools here in Cherokee County. Are so thankful for that. So I just I give back and sponsoring those types of programs and as well as the sports. My daughter’s a cheerleader, so I get involved in that and and sponsor that way to just to give back to our community.

Lori Kennedy: [00:13:52] Well, who all is in your family or your household?

Christa Skinnell: [00:13:55] Well, it’s my husband and I. Of course, we have our daughter and son. And then I have two cute little fur babies, pug and and a black lab. And then we also have a guinea pig that runs around the basement and a little cage. So.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:09] And how old are your children?

Christa Skinnell: [00:14:11] Karen is 18. She’ll be 18. And then my son will be 13. Oh, sure. Lincoln.

Lori Kennedy: [00:14:16] Awesome. Shelly, tell us how you use your influence in the community.

Shelly Farrar: [00:14:21] And I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t get to give back. And I think that was one thing as when I originally thought we were going to go be missionaries on the mission field and ended up encouraging, not encourage, but somehow inspiring our friends to do it. And we never did it. But we are involved with serve. They help locally and internationally. I love ministries to drop off things anytime we can, and they’re wonderful people and we just had a long time ago that we really couldn’t afford to pay for print and advertising and things like that. And going back to the word of mouth thing. And but I but my husband knows how much I like to give. And, you know, and he was like, you know, we can’t do both, but what do you want to do? I was like, I want to give to every body that asks that one something. And he was like, Well, how do we do that? And I was like, you know, even if it’s small, like, so we never tell anybody. No and no. I might be saying this out loud on the radio, and my husband’s probably like, Oh my God. But so, you know, someone comes to us like a church or an organization or anything like that or a golf tournament. We give at least a gift card to be used for drawing something like that. And then we try to do community events raising money. We’ve done it for the blind for oh gosh, Mr. Buchanan, his organization has a golf tournament.

Shelly Farrar: [00:15:44] I can’t remember which one it was, but he’s he was my very first customer at our the new RC RCB and he walked in and we hadn’t even opened yet and he asked me for a donation. He’s 94 years old today and he’s the most amazing man I’ve ever met in my life. And he’s he’s literally he won’t forget it. He’s like, you know, I go, How am I going to tell you? No, I go, I don’t have money yet. He’s like, Why should I? I hope you make money, but I feel bad if you don’t. But we gave him the very first gift card out of that restaurant and he’s told everybody, I think. So we just try to give in every way we can, any way we can, and also try to encourage other restaurateurs and other small businesses that, you know, it’s going to be okay. And, you know, during COVID, I, you know, my husband and I were talking and I was crying and, you know, not sure if we’re going to make it. And I said, well, if we’re going to go down, I want to go down helping people. So we started doing private date nights and things like that, just surprising people with things like if they couldn’t afford to go out to eat, we would let them come through a drive thru and get a meal or come get a meal for their family. So I just like to do things like that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:16:54] Yeah. You’re doing some kind of thing tonight, aren’t you? Doing something tonight that’s like a gin.

Shelly Farrar: [00:16:59] Oh, that is. That’s no, the end of the month. That’s June 30th, so.

Lori Kennedy: [00:17:03] Oh, gotcha. I saw something on social media. What is that about?

Shelly Farrar: [00:17:06] Well, we do tastings, you know, from time to time and just fun stuff. And right now I have a lot of ladies who really are interested in learning more about gin and everybody has ladies. We want the skinny drinks and low cal and you know, and then I have some friends that don’t drink alcohol. So I’ve also, you know, incorporate where we’ll teach them that they can have mocktails and still feel part of the crowd and have a good time and and have a healthy, refreshing drink with fresh herbs and juices and tonic waters and flavored waters and things like that. So we’re going to I’m going to let everybody make their own mocktail or cocktail, and we’re going to have like it’ll be up to about it would be on our rooftop because we have a rooftop now. And yeah, so we just do that and I’ll have also my bartenders that if they’re not working, I invite them to attend just for educational purposes.

Lori Kennedy: [00:17:59] So fun. Tell us who is in your family and in your household.

Shelly Farrar: [00:18:03] Well, just we’re empty nesters now. So my husband and I have been married 34 years.

Lori Kennedy: [00:18:09] Congratulations.

Shelly Farrar: [00:18:10] And that’s how I know how old my oldest one is. He’s 33. I always make him older and he gets mad at me. And then my other son is, gosh, I think he’s 26. I think they’re seven years apart. I never did the math. Right. And he and he’s our executive chef at table 20 in Cartersville. So somehow, some way both of our children are in the restaurant world. And yeah, so I think that’s it. And I how can I forget Zumba? He’s 11. So my son rescued him when he was 15. So we got him.

Lori Kennedy: [00:18:45] When your son was 15, not when the dog was. Yes, he’s 11. Got it. It took me a second. I was like, wait, what? Lorrie, who’s in your household?

Lori Devaney: [00:18:53] Oh, my goodness. So we we are heading towards empty nesters, but we’ve still got two two left in our household are my son, Colin, who is 18, who’s also following in his mom and dad’s footsteps and is an entrepreneur. And he has a mobile detailing business that he is doing now. So it’ll buffed details. And, you know, I just got to give a shout out to this kid. So. Yeah, a. A year ago. He comes to me and says, Mom, I don’t think I want to continue with college, but I have a plan. I’m like, Oh, no, what’s the plan? And he said, He goes, I want to I want to do my mobile detailing. He goes, I’m going to sell my Jeep. I’m going to buy a Ford Transit van. I’m going to logo it out, and I’m going to start my own business. I said, prove me wrong. Go do it. And he’s been doing awesome with that. So he’s still at home? Probably not for much longer, though. And then we have my our nephew, Jake, who is also at home, and he’s about a year older than Collin. And then our middle child, Amanda, is she graduated Kiss U and she moved to Nashville about a year ago. And she’s working as a communications director for the National Republican Party up there. Or for that I’m sorry, the state the state GOP. So she’s she’s a communications director up there, so she’s doing really well. And then our oldest son, Ian, who is 32, got married about a year ago. And we have our first grandchild.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:30] Oh, congrats. Is it a little.

Lori Devaney: [00:20:32] Boy or a little boy? His name is Dustin Thomas. And just, you know, of course, I’m partial, but he’s the cutest kid in the world.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:40] Of course he.

Intro: [00:20:40] Is.

Lori Kennedy: [00:20:42] For sure. Let’s talk about mentoring. I want to know if you are being mentored and if you’re mentoring others and what that looks like. Laurie, I’m gonna stick with you for the moment.

Lori Devaney: [00:20:52] You know, I think. I think I’m glad you brought that up, because I was thinking about that this morning is, you know, one of the first mentors that I ever had in business. I was probably. Mid-twenties and an old boss of mine, Dave, Hank and Brant. When I was in the recruiting world, he was probably the best mentor I ever had. And I think one of the things that he taught me was really just, you know, to be honest in business and to be, you know, what you say you’re going to do to do it and to be forthright with, you know, if complications arise, which they always do, and just kind of come out with that in the kindest way possible and, you know, try to hit problems head on. And then obviously, as you know, as you go through business, you know, I learn from you know, I’m always trying to learn from people and just different scenarios and and grasping knowledge, you know, and how you run a business, how you manage people, how you lead people, not even manage people because I think it’s more about leadership than it is about managing. But that’s you know, I would say that mentoring and looking at different folks ways of doing things is really important.

Lori Kennedy: [00:22:14] That’s awesome. I always write stuff down when I’m in here. I’m always like, Oh, people have the most amazing information and I want to learn from it. Shelley Tell us about mentoring. Are you being mentored or are you mentoring others? What does that look like for you?

Shelly Farrar: [00:22:27] I think people mentor me without even knowing. They mentor me. I was like a lot of our regulars that come in and have become friends of mine and I watch how they are with their family. I watch how they are with their with people. I watch how they treat my people, you know, our family, our team. And I’m inspired by that every day. And I was thinking about this, too. I had, of course, my old boss. I was with Outback Steakhouse corporate office. So Trudy Cooper, a woman in business and very successful and she has on Swan and Tampa now. But she was so kind and so sweet and and she believed in me before. I believed in myself. You know, I started there when I was like my twenties and we had, I think five. And I left there when we had a 5000 and there was only like six girls in the office for a little while and then it moved up to 20 girls. Now it’s a big Eiffel Tower thing, but you know, they just said, No, go figure out how to do this and do it. Oh yeah, we can’t make it. So we’re gonna send you on the jet and you’re going to go open, you know, Charleston, West Virginia, you know, help them with their training stuff or, hey, we need training material. You know, you’re going to go do this or you’re going to do a voiceover. So I got to learn a lot of different things and got thrown into things when I was pretty shy and pretty like not not a go getter, really.

Shelly Farrar: [00:23:43] Just kind of I was a people pleaser. I’m still a people pleaser, but she was definitely my ultimate mentor then. And, you know, now it’s like it’s really just the people, other people in businesses and other people just in life. But my ultimate mentor was my mother in law. And, you know, she passed away. She lived with us. Oh, gosh, I’m going to cry. But she was wonderful. And she was a businesswoman, but also she was the kindest woman I’ve ever known. And she definitely never said anything bad about anybody. Never, never did anything that I could think of was ever wrong. She was held at gunpoint twice working for McDonald’s. Oh, wow. Wow. That’s scary. Yeah, I told her, yeah, we’re going to get to another job. I sent her. I sent resumes out without her knowing it. And she was in her sixties. And I, you know, she had tons of offers and she thought, well, no one’s going to hire me. I’m, you know, I’m older and that’s not true. People want people. People want good people. And she was amazing at that, too. She went and learned the car wash business. She learned how to fix the mechanics of a car wash. I was like, wow, okay. You know, she’s just amazing. And yeah, you know, and even with her fight with cancer, she was amazing.

Lori Kennedy: [00:24:57] That’s awesome. Krista, tell us about mentoring. If you’re mentoring others, if others are mentoring you and what all that looks like for you.

Christa Skinnell: [00:25:05] Well, I’ll take a back and go back a little bit, because before children, I actually did something else. I was an optician for years and that was a time that I was I was being mentored. I mean, I was in my twenties and it was such a great experience to work under some really good doctors and some great business development people. So that helped me be able to and then and then watching my husband as he was, is working his way up the ladder with corporate learning, all those things as well. But then I stopped working. I had my kids and I stayed home for 16 years.

Lori Kennedy: [00:25:54] You just worked a different way. Don’t say you stop working. You probably worked harder in many ways.

Christa Skinnell: [00:25:59] I started working for free for 16.

Lori Kennedy: [00:26:01] Years.

Christa Skinnell: [00:26:04] And that really was a growing period for sure. But when I finally decided to, I’ve always had this dream of starting my own business. And so it just all started coming together and. Getting into networking. I just I wasn’t seeking a mentor. I was just, you know, just trying to figure out what to do and. People just you kind of end up in in an environment where people are gravitated or you’re gravitated to that person and you you just began to learn. And I tell you, I’m still just one year old in this and I’m just a sponge. I mean, just tell me and I’m going to just absorb it all and let it let it float in there and and and put it into action if it’s something that that definitely resonates. So I have been so fortunate in this past year to to find three amazing women. And I don’t even know that they know for sure that I consider them my mentors. But if I need something or if I have questions and I’m not afraid to ask and to just be vulnerable with people, so I will just sit down and just share my heart or whatever it is. And they are just right there for me and guiding me and and you know, when it’s right and you know, and when those things land and the right path. So I’m so thankful for that. And that’s all happened through networking through here in Woodstock. Again, just it’s been fantastic.

Lori Kennedy: [00:27:30] Yeah. I do feel like when you approach something vulnerably or you know that that you’re more open to learning and people are more open to giving to you. When you approach something like irony, know everything, then you’re not going to learn as much and you’re also people aren’t going to be open to sharing with you. So I think that’s awesome. Why don’t you tell us about a mistake you’ve made in the last year, since that’s how long you’ve been in business and how you fixed it.

Christa Skinnell: [00:27:59] Just one. Just know.

Lori Kennedy: [00:28:01] Just pick the best.

Christa Skinnell: [00:28:03] One, right? I know. I will have. I did. I’ve thought about this question and I think my biggest mistake was the inability to say no, because in some ways, I’m a people pleaser, I or I don’t want to hurt somebody’s feelings. So I just kind of okay. And I’ll go along with something when I know in my gut it just doesn’t feel right. But then I thought, well, maybe I’ll learn some lessons through it. And of course there are always lessons, so I try to stay open to that. But I accepted a certain event just because I, you know, it was an event, so it was like, Oh, let me take it. And but in my gut, I just knew something wasn’t right. It just didn’t sit right. And in the end, you know, not only was it it ended up being more I was volunteering, you know, so I actually and more so I was even just basically paying to be there. It was and it’s not about the money so much as just the environment and the tone and the way you were treated. And so I knew it wasn’t right, but I just went for it. And so I that was one of my biggest mistakes.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:16] So you learn to trust your gut more.

Christa Skinnell: [00:29:18] Trust my gut and yes. And be more confident as time has gone by just to say no, no thanks, pass. You know, love the concept, but now I can’t do that for you.

Lori Kennedy: [00:29:28] Cheli, what about you? Tell us about a mistake that you made and how you fixed it.

Shelly Farrar: [00:29:32] Oh, goodness. I make a mistake. It’s every day of my life. So we’re in the restaurant world. You know, you have so many different people, so many different things going on at the same time. I think mainly my biggest mistake is every day or like, you know, from day to day is, I guess, underestimating, you know, the power of prayer. You know, when you don’t know what to do and you’re you’re it’s not up to you to come up with the answers. You know, it’s like, you know, you don’t always have the answers. And we deal with so many incredible young people. And, you know, I think people constantly want to say, oh, the young people, the day the young people today, they’re not they don’t they’re lazy. They don’t do this. It’s just not true. I mean, and I think the biggest mistake is that underestimate somebody or to assume, you know, somebody without really getting to know them or understanding where they’re coming from. And, you know, I’ve I’ve over the years, you know, I’ve had to learn to go take a step back and go, you know, figure out who they are before I’m make an assumption or get frustrated because they’re not doing something that I think they should already know or things like that. So I make those mistakes all the time because then, God, you know, I do something and I was like, I shouldn’t have done that. And I beat myself up for a week. And, you know, even with the customer, you know, I always tell them, you know, the employees, you know, if someone’s coming in and they’re gruff, you don’t know where they just came from because it came from the hospital, because it came from a funeral could it came from a lonely house, you know, it could have came from an abuse situation. I was like, so just don’t take it personal, you know, and just be there. Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:31:17] That’s great. Lori, tell us about your mistake.

Shelly Farrar: [00:31:23] How much.

Lori Devaney: [00:31:24] Which call.

Lori Kennedy: [00:31:24] Yourself which.

Lori Devaney: [00:31:26] One from. Morning or now. You know, I think kind of thinking about I like what Shelly had to say there about the power of prayer. I think that’s, you know, pray first and then act, I think is is obviously the most important thing. But I’ll get to a specific here is, you know, as as I said earlier on in the conversation here that, you know, we opened during, you know, just as COVID was finishing, I mean, in trying to do a full buildout and construction, this this space that you’re in right now was basically just in a shell. There was there were no offices in it. There was it was it was a church previously, but it was just an open space. And so we had to source so many different materials. I mean, I remember the the architectural lights is kind of cool round lights that you see throughout the building here. We were trying to get those and I think there’s eight of them or so in the building here. I think I bought each one from a different vendor. Oh, wow. So, I mean, during COVID, you know, supply chain issues and there’s still a problem. You know, we are still trying to source some materials for the expansion that we just opened up. So I think my biggest mistake is, you know, you live in a pre-COVID world and now we live in a in a post-COVID world here. And it is just it’s they’re different worlds, but it’s it’s trying to not overpromise something and to say, okay, my goal is for this time frame. But, you know, we obviously have to look at reality and maybe, you know, from a business perspective, we can’t get to that to that point. So I think it’s just trying not to over promise different things.

Lori Kennedy: [00:33:21] And do you have a message that’s for women specifically?

Lori Devaney: [00:33:24] You know, I was kind of trying to think about that one. And, you know, I think it’s to be intentional, you know, and to really think about what your goals are and especially women in business is, you know, what is that goal that you you want to achieve? Write it down. I mean, I know we’ve all been to different seminars and leadership conferences, but write that goal down because if you can write that goal down and you can see that goal, then you can start making steps to reach that. But it’s being intentional each day. I mean, like I said to our community manager, Kelly, who is fabulous, by the way, I’ve got to give a little shout out for her here. I could not do this without her. I mean, she is my right.

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:16] Hand, always smiling.

Lori Devaney: [00:34:18] Oh, my gosh. She is like the happiest person in the world. I’m like, I don’t know how she does it, but she is fabulous. But, you know, one of the things that I’ve learned through her is, you know, is that intentional peace. And like I said, I was just talking to her the other day. I’m like, you know, I feel like I’ve got this laundry list of to do’s and I walk out of here and the list got longer, you know? So, you know, it’s but I think it’s looking at that big picture. What is that goal and how are you going to reach that goal and being intentional about it?

Lori Kennedy: [00:34:50] Okay, Shelly, tell us about a message. Do you have a message that’s specifically for women?

Shelly Farrar: [00:34:57] I think mainly. I guess I can just talk from my past. You know, I tried a lot of things and I gave up too easily, you know, too quickly. I think now, thank God, by mentors and things like that. And, you know, I look to and I try to live on purpose, you know, and because we didn’t get to go beyond a missionary field, you know, I try to be of service here locally. And, you know, my husband will say, well, this is your mission field, you know, and make a difference in young people’s lives is my ultimate, ultimate goal. And also to, you know, just keep being the best people. Just don’t give up. Just, you know, and if you don’t know something, learn it. Don’t don’t think you can’t learn it no matter what age you are. I had to teach my self to bartend. I had to teach myself how to bake. I had to teach myself how to, you know, all kinds of things, you know. And there’s things that intimidate me, but I still am like, All right, well, I’m going to YouTube it. I’ll figure it out. So, yeah, that’s awesome.

Lori Kennedy: [00:36:01] Krista, do you have a message that’s for women specifically?

Christa Skinnell: [00:36:05] Actually, it’s interesting because I. When I started this business. Just I know it’s events and it’s it’s celebrations and it’s purposeful gatherings. But my heart is for women because I know that there are so many out there that are in a spot that just they don’t know. And it’s a crossroads and it can be at any age. So you have a coming up on an empty nest or, you know, what do I do with my life now? I relate it back to what how I felt when when, you know, the kids are older and they don’t need me. I don’t need to be home all the time. And I knew I wanted to get back at something and say what, but what do I do now? And so it’s just. Thoughtful, purposeful prayer intent that you take the time to figure out what your passion is and what your heart calling like. What is it that you really would just love to do? What is your dream? And then go for it? Because every woman has that strength inside of them. And there are so many of us that I learned myself that if you’re just willing to ask the question, if you’re willing to just be a little vulnerable with somebody and say, This is my dream, what do you think? Or How can you and let’s build each other up? For me, that’s that’s everything. I, I am so passionate about that that we are now putting together. I’m working with some of my favorite ladies, and we are putting together a conference that we’re going to be having and hosting sometime early next year.

Lori Kennedy: [00:37:44] That was the next thing I was going to ask you. I was like, I don’t know if you’re ready to talk about this yet, but one night we were together and you had talked about a conference. Tell us what this conference is going to, what your vision is for it.

Christa Skinnell: [00:37:57] It’s ever evolving. So I sat down with I sat down individually with some women and just shared what I felt the calling was. And then we met as a group because they all felt it important. And it is for women as young as 18 or 17. You know, when you’re at that crossroads of I’m getting ready to leave high school, what do I do now? I have a daughter that’s there or again, empty nester or a 70 year old woman who has been passed away, whatever it is. And then you have to start over. What what do I do and where do I go? And that’s what this conference is going to be a place to motivate, to inspire, to not not and not just that, but to give you the tools when you walk out the door, because sometimes you get all rah rah while you’re in the middle of this conference and you just feel so great. And then you walk out of the door and reality hits you right in the face and you don’t even know what to do. And you hit the roadblock and then you give up.

Christa Skinnell: [00:39:07] This is going to be an intentional conference where you are going to be meeting with other women, coming alongside each other, and basically creating that mentorship. And it’ll be organic. It’s not going to be a you’re assigned to this, but it will definitely be an organic build. And so I’m super excited about it. It’s going to be called Fly a Kite. That’s the name of that came from just an experience that I had had an unfortunate experience and the person was was very ugly about it. And instead of telling me what they really wanted to say, they said, Go fly a kite. And I just I never and it was very I was I didn’t even know what to do. I just sat there stunned. But afterwards, after licking my wounds for like a day, I said, okay, what am I supposed to do with this? And it just started coming to me. And that’s the name of your conference. You’ve had this conference and that’s going to be so fly a kite. And there’s so many metaphors to that.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:10] Yeah.

Christa Skinnell: [00:40:11] When you learn to fly a kite and getting these women to reach new heights, that is what what the goal of.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:16] This is catching the wind.

Christa Skinnell: [00:40:18] Yes.

Lori Kennedy: [00:40:19] Okay. So tell me about Krista. What is the greatest challenge that you’re facing now as a business or an industry right now?

Christa Skinnell: [00:40:30] I think it’s pretty universal. It’s that supply and the staffing. You know, when it comes to to events, you have venue shortages, you don’t or over bookings or anything like that. So it’s it’s that supply and demand. And so if you have your last minute planners that want to do it, throw a party or do something in a few weeks, that it’s more difficult, much more difficult to get what you want out of get out of that. So that’s where, you know, when the industry just shut down for COVID. So it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:41:02] Was. Right. It’s what about you, Shelly? What challenges are you facing as a business or industry?

Shelly Farrar: [00:41:08] Oh, goodness. Where do you begin? Supply and demand, definitely the cost of food cost. Trying to you know, it’s a domino effect with everything. Farmers, agriculture, you know, I mean, you know, it’s like people can’t even get, you know, formula for babies, you know? I mean, you know, it’s like there’s just you just don’t realize the impact it does. And even like we have buildings and they don’t build things like they used to. We have a brand new building and we’re, you know, things are still breaking down. It’s a brand new building. Things haven’t really worked yet. And, you know, those kind of things. So and. You know, trying to get yeah, you might have a warranty, but trying to get a worker to come when they don’t have any, you know, they don’t have enough people there. So you’re still having something break down in a restaurant and they say it was going to be a week can be an eternity. Yeah.

Lori Kennedy: [00:41:59] What about employees for you?

Shelly Farrar: [00:42:01] You know, we are blessed in that area, you know? I know. You know, it’s a lot of a lot of my fellow restaurateurs and business people like how do you do it? How do you do it? And I’m going to say God again, but it’s also just we have father daughters, we have sister sisters working for us. We have best friends. We have you know, they all bring each other in. Our parents who are like, I want my kid to work for you. I don’t want them if they’re going to work in a restaurant where I want them to work for you. So it’s again, just we have people that are back from college, you know, for summer help and those kind of things. Now, don’t get me wrong, nobody loves a dishwasher. So that is our our biggest one to keep filled, for sure. It’s not a glamorous job. And, you know, but it’s the most important home I know, so.

Lori Kennedy: [00:42:52] All right, Laurie, what about you?

Lori Devaney: [00:42:54] You know, I don’t know that I’m going to say anything new here. I laugh about what Shelley was just saying about the dishwashing job my son has. One of his first jobs was as a dishwasher. And I think it was last week that he told me that that was just not the key job that he liked the most. But, you know, going back to the supply chain issue, you know, you’re doing a buildout and you’re trying to get, you know, equipment and and whatnot there. So I think that is probably one of the the hardest things that we’ve had to deal with. Much like Shelley had said employees that that has been a great experience. Like I said, Kelly, you know, Amanda helped by my daughter, opened up, you know, when we first opened, she was our front desk and she was awesome. And then she she went on to, you know, further her career up in Nashville. But then Kelly came and I’ve known Kelly for years, so that was a huge blessing to have her join us. But, you know, I think it’s really just goes back to the supply chain issues that we’ve been experiencing that, you know, and unfortunately, I don’t see it going away any time soon. But we have had some you know, we’ve got some great vendors that have been working for us. Ah commercial contractor Mike Bedingfield has been phenomenal. He stands by us every single time. We get another crazy harebrained idea here and he’s here meeting with us and and helping us out with that. So, you know, I mean, you just try to work through it and it goes back to networking. And it’s those people that you you meet through your community and trying to give local business, you know, businesses the first opportunity because I think they’re going to be the first ones that want to be able to help you.

Christa Skinnell: [00:44:39] That’s that’s absolutely true. I feel to reach out to those that you that are right here in your backyard and they’ll they usually are right there for you whenever you need something.

Shelly Farrar: [00:44:51] They’ve definitely come to our rescue. And I’m so thankful for Cherokee Connect. I don’t know if you guys know that sauce. Anytime I need a plumber, I need them. They’re always nice. Everybody helps us, thank God.

Lori Kennedy: [00:45:00] So I’m so we’re going to start winding down. And I would like to start the beginning of the end with you, Lori, and tell us a tip of your trade and then tell us how others can get in touch with your business.

Lori Devaney: [00:45:15] You know, I think it goes back to what you were at the question you asked about specific advice to women. And I think it’s just across the board tip of the trade is, you know, we work with different businesses. I mean, we’ve we’ve had stone in here for about a year. I think Stone was one of our first OGs here. He he came in and got the office. I think we’d been open a month. So he’s been here the longest out of any of our members, but you know, a lot of different members from mortgage lenders to real estate to i.t folks. But it comes back to being intentional. You know, set those goals, come up with a plan, write them down, take baby steps towards them. And because if you don’t if you don’t write them down, they’re probably not going to happen because it’ll just get pushed to the back burner. But being intentional, I think, is the tip that I can give anybody in business.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:10] And how do we get in touch with your business?

Lori Devaney: [00:46:11] How do you get in touch with us? Oh, my gosh. There’s a multitude of ways to do that. We are on Instagram, we are on Facebook. You can just look up the innovation spot in Woodstock. Of course, our website was the innovation spot. Or you can give us a call at 7702623668 and or of course, stop by our offices. We’re only a half a mile from the amphitheater here on Arnold Mill Road. So we are very close to downtown Woodstock anytime between nine and five Monday through Friday.

Lori Kennedy: [00:46:43] Awesome. Thank you. All right. Shelley, give us a tip of the trade and then let us know how to get in touch with you.

Shelly Farrar: [00:46:50] Okay. Well, I’m trying to think here. There’s so many things, I think just being being willing to evolve and change, being open to it because it is going to you know, it has to change to grow. And that would be my tip is just, you know, be ready for it and and get ready because you’re going to have to you’re going to have to change something, you know, might be out of something. You might do whatever or you might need to rethink your whole thought process. We just tripled the size of our restaurant, our menus, very big. You know, we might have to, you know, modify that a little bit. And then as far as getting a hold of us, we are on Facebook and I know we’re on Instagram. Twitter, I’m not really good with all those. I’m on Facebook. I can do that one, but I’m not really good. All the rest. And then we have Jay Michaels, Time.com. And. Rc Buchanan dot com and let’s see you know we have my email address is out there everywhere my phone number personal phone number my husband’s. We are you know we are owners that are in the business. We’re in the building. One of one owner is in a building. No matter what what time of the day it is, you can always find us and thank us it.

Lori Kennedy: [00:48:07] Awesome. Okay, Chris, to give us a tip of the trade and how to get in touch with your business.

Christa Skinnell: [00:48:12] Well, tip of the trade, I think, as far as events go, but also just generally in life, I think our business is to just keep an open mind and and think outside the box. And that’s what 980 events is all about, is bringing a unique twist.

Intro: [00:48:29] To.

Christa Skinnell: [00:48:31] Any type of event that you want to have for your company, for your staff, for individual parties. And of course, having a budget in mind is as a big thing too. But we are can be found on Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn as well. It’s 988 events, actually. Nine is nine E and then the number is eight eight events dot com. And that’s basically our tag on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn as well.

Lori Kennedy: [00:49:04] Awesome. All right. Well, I’m going to tell you all a little about our specials. We have monthly specials at Alpha and Omega Automotive. And so this month we have a fuel induction service for just 99, 99, which is normally one 3999. And I’m going to tell you what it is. A fuel induction service is a process where carbon deposits are cleared from portions of your engine. When you start and run your vehicle, build up from fuel and air can cause slight carbon buildup inside the engine parts and it’s recommended either every 60,000 miles or if you’re noticing performance issues. We also always have first time customers get 15% off parts on their first time. As long as they ask for the coupon, you got to ask for it. You know. Anyway, we are grateful to be here. And once again, my name is Lori Kennedy. Thank you for joining us on Women in Business Powered by Business RadioX. And until next time, keep learning and growing.